Warlord of the North (23 page)

My wild charge had cleared those behind us but Sir Tristan was still beleaguered. I heard a roar behind me as Wulfric charged into a knot of Scots.  I turned and was splattered with their blood as he swung his war axe. More of my men at arms were behind, led by Sir Edward.  Our rear was safe.

I spurred Badger who leapt forward.  Sir Harold fell in at my side and I saw Gilles appear at my left.  Beyond him Wulfric was wielding his war axe like a scythe at harvest time. And then I saw Sir Tristan fall.  His men at arms closed around him and I had a horrible vision of Rolf and his Swabians.  This would not happen again.  I saw Baron Skipton as he raised his sword in triumph. I kicked hard with my spurs and Badger hurtled towards them.  I veered around the fallen men of Elton who were trying to protect Sir Tristan's body.  Gilles, although inexperienced, was laying about him with his sword.  He was fortunate that the men he fought had their backs to him.  But it was Wulfric who carved us a path to the Baron. None could face his fury.

I put Badger between the Baron and Tristan's men. I punched at the Baron's shield with my own.  Pulling Badger's reins to the left meant his head reared and he bit into the rump of the Baron's horse,  It kicked and shied away.  I stood in my saddle and brought my sword over towards Baron Skipton's head.  He was so busy trying get his skittish horse under control that his shield barely blocked my sword and it was driven into his helmet blinding him.  My quick hands meant I pulled back and stabbed at his side. He tried to bring his shield down and succeeded only in driving my point into his thigh.  Blood spurted.  He pulled his horse's head around so that he could use his sword. I wheeled Badger to face him and stabbed at his other side.  He barely blocked it.  I could see the blood was flowing freely from his leg and that it was a mortal wound but so long as he remained in the saddle his men would fight on. I pulled my hand back and feinted to stab in the same place.  He tried to block me but he was slow.  I changed it to a sweep and hacked off his head.  His torso slipped from the saddle.

He had his men at arms behind him. Wulfric and Sir Edward slew two and then the others shouted, as they threw down their weapons, "We yield! Mercy!"

It was as though we had stepped from a storm into a house.  Everything stopped as the men at arms threw down their weapons.  The other knights saw the disaster and turned to flee. They had to run the gauntlet of my archers and they did not pass the ford unscathed.

We had won but, once again, we had paid a terrible price. Sir Tristan lay in a circle of his own warriors and he lay still. The only thing worse than a battle won is a battle lost.

"Wulfric secure the prisoners.  Sir Edward see to your men at the ford."

"What about the men at arms and knights who fled, Lord?"

"Dick and his archers are pursuing the foot.  They will catch any who are tardy.  We do not have enough men to follow, Harold."

"Aye lord."

Edgar!"

I jumped from Badger's back and handed the reins to Gilles.  I saw that three of Sir Tristan's men at arms lay dead and the rest all bore wounds; testimony to their fidelity. I saw that Sir Tristan had a blow to the head.  There was a deep dent in the helmet which should not have been there. I took off my helmet and put my coif down so that I could put my ear to his mouth. He was breathing but it was shallow. Edgar dismounted and joined me.

"He breathes but he has a head wound."

Edgar pointed to the slashed mail across the shoulder. There was blood seeping from it.  He had a second wound. "We must take off his mail and his helmet lord and see the damage."

"Let us take off the helmet first.  If we have to we can cut the mail from him." The two of us carefully eased the helmet from his head.  His skull protector was red with blood.  We took it off and I saw a dent in his head which matched his helmet.

Edgar shook his head.  "I am sorry, lord.  This is beyond  me."

I stood.  "Gilles, fetch the wagon here.  I want a bed building inside it."

Gilles shouted to the other squires, "Come, the Earl has a task for us."

I looked up and saw Wulfric and Sir Edward, "You two take command.  We leave at dawn.  Gather what you can."

"And the prisoners? Do we slit their throats?"

Wulfric was never subtle and the men at arms heard him.  "Lord we beg for mercy! We surrendered!"

I shook my head, "Guard them for now.  I will make my decision when we have seen to Sir Tristan." I looked at the men at arms, "Pray for him! You will live if he does!"

Edgar said, quietly, "Then they are dead men lord for that is a bad wound to the head."

I sighed, "In Constantinople they have doctors who cut open the heads of men. Those men live, well, often they do. Sir Tristan breathes. So long as there is life then there is hope. Fetch hot water and I want the sharpest dagger you can find."

His men at arms raced off, eager to do something. I helped Edgar to cut away the offending mail and part of his gambeson.  The wound was not deep but it was bloody.  While we waited for the water Edgar took out his needle and gut.

I heard the creaking of the wagon as Gilles and the squires brought it over. "Lord, we have used the cloaks and clothes from the dead to make a soft interior."

"We need to ensure that he does move. Put in the spare quivers to make it solid."

The water arrived and while Edgar bathed and cleansed the shoulder I cleaned away the blood from Sir Tristan's head. I tugged his hair and saw that the bone inside moved with the hair. One of the men at arms handed me a dagger.  It was the design the Italians called a stiletto. It had a long narrow blade and I knew that they were always sharp. I put the tip beneath the hair line while pulling the hair.  Sir Tristan was between life and death and he did not stir.  That was a mercy. I pushed into the skin and blood began to seep.  I slipped the blade of the knife gently under the skin and began to make an incision so that I could examine the wound. It came apart like a ripe plum. I made a long cut up to the top of the damage skull.

Looking up I said to the nearest man at arms, "Wash your hands and hold these flaps of skin apart so that I can see the damage." He came back and knelt next to me. "Keep your head back for I need the light." I peered in and saw the broken pieces of bone.  They appeared to be loose. Even as the man at arms held the flap a piece fell out and I heard him gasp. "Fear not, your master is not harmed. Edgar, when you have finished stitching, look here."

A moment or two later and he joined me. "That is a proper mess, lord."

"Yet I spy hope.  If I move away the broken bone and cover it with skin it may heal."

"You need something to replace the bone lord.  Something solid."

"How about a piece of metal? Gold?"

"Aye lord, but where would you get such a piece of metal?  It would have to fit perfectly."

"Wulfric, in my purse is a gold crown, take it out."

Wulfric did as I asked and handed it to me.  I saw that it was just slightly smaller than the hole.  It was almost the right shape. "Wulfric, take this coin.  I want it beating thinner and to fit the hole you see."

"You will put the coin in his head, lord?" I nodded. He took the coin and crossed himself, "And this is magic, lord. I shall do my best."

I carefully removed the tiny pieces of bone with the tip of the dagger.  Edgar said, "He is breathing easier, lord. There may be something to this."

I heard the banging as Wulfric hammered the coin.  It would have been quicker had we a forge but he used brute force and a captured war hammer. He returned to us. "Put it in vinegar, Wulfric.  It will purify it."

"Lord, it will sting!"

I smiled, "And I will not mind for if it stings him then he will be alive."

He handed me the cleaned coin and I placed it over the hole.  "Now Edgar you must sew the skin with tiny stitches and it should be as tight as you can make it.  We do not want the coin to move."

"Aye lord, I shall be a seamstress!"

It seemed to take an age but eventually the job was done.  "Now cover him with blankets and try to give him some beer.  We will risk moving him in the morning."

Edgar and I stood.  I suddenly realised that we had many men around us.  They began to cheer. I shook my head, "When  Sir Tristan speaks then you can cheer us until then, we pray."

Sir Edward clapped me on the back, "I have seen many things, lord, but that today was a the most astounding. When I tell my children they will think I talk of Merlin and that it is fantastical!"

"Wait until the morrow.  Well, how do we stand?"

"Dick and Philip of Selby chased the survivors.  They stopped when they ran out of arrows.  We have great amounts of booty and horses. We paid a heavy price, lord. Sir Tristan and I have few men at arms to take home."

"For that I am sorry." I looked over at the prisoners. We needed no more slaves and yet something stopped me from ordering their deaths.  I walked over to them.  "What is your name?"

The man who had surrendered said, "Robert of Settle, lord." He looked over to Sir Tristan, "Does the knight live?"

"He does but do not think that sympathy from those who tried to kill him will stand you in good stead. Why should I spare you?"

"Because, lord, our master is dead.  We were not oathsworn but hired men.  We followed him north when he quarrelled with King Henry.  We do not wish to stay among the Scots.  We wish to go back to England and serve another master.  We are good soldiers."

Wulfric snorted, "If you were good soldiers then you would lie next to your master!"

I waved a hand to silence Wulfric. "If we took you on as men at arms I would need a binding oath."

"Lord, you cannot take on such men! It is wrong." Wulfric was incandescent with rage.

"Wulfric you are a fine warrior but you need to know when to keep your mouth shut. Sir Edward would you be willing to have some of these as your men at arms?"

"If they swear an oath then, aye."

I nodded, "Tomorrow we head back to our valley.  You shall swear an oath in my church.  Your behaviour and conduct over the next day will determine if your wish is granted."

"We will behave, lord.  You have my word."

Once again there were a huge number of dead animals which had to be butchered.  The villagers did well.  The headman asked if we would be taking the bones of the dead animals away.  Gilles looked surprised when he did so. I smiled, "They will use them for soup and then burn them before grinding them up to enrich the soil.  Of course you may have them and we will not be taking any more of the dead animals with us.  They are yours."

"Thank you, lord, if the winter is a hard one then that could be the difference between life and death."

Tristan's men at arms and squire kept a close watch on their master during the night.  Edgar and I were summoned when he made a sound or if his breathing was erratic. I did not mind for it showed what they thought of their master. We had burned the enemy dead at sunset and the fires hissed and spat all night keeping the sentries warn.  The following day we buried our own dead in the earth which had been burned. I had lost five men.  Mark and Will's son my archers, Brian the Celt, Richard of York and Osric son of Dale had all died.  They had died well but they were harder to replace than gold. We said our words and blessed on their way to heaven.  I knew not if they would go to heaven.  They had not been shriven before we fought. I did not think the God I worshipped would turn away brave men.

When dawn broke we began the task of lifting Sir Tristan into the wagon. We did it painfully slowly but eventually he was safely cocooned inside the wagon and we headed south. We had had no ransom nor would we be getting any but the men who had come south, especially the knights had coins and treasure aplenty.  I noted that the coins were mainly Scottish but there were many French ones.  I saw Louis' pudgy fingers in this Scottish pie. The other wagon was used to carry back the mail, swords, saddles and weaponry.  We had to be frugal these days.  King Henry would not come to pay for weapons.  The Bishop of Durham would no longer be hiring us to fight for him.  We were on our own.

It took all day and part of the night to reach home.  We could have stayed at Norton or Hartburn but we were keen to push on and reach Stockton.  Harold went with us although his men returned to their manor.  His wife was in my castle; my sanctuary. I had sent Aiden and his falconers on ahead to warn Father Henry of the crisis. The priest and Tristan's wife, the Lady Anne, were anxiously waiting as we headed through our gate.

"More light!" Alf and others brought torches and stood around the wagon as Father Henry climbed in to examine the wound.

I climbed next to him.  "He had an indentation in his skull.  I cut a flap of skin, removed the fragments of bone and replaced it with a piece of gold the same size." I saw his wife raise her hand to her mouth as tears sprang from her eyes. "I could not see what else to do."

Father Henry shook his head, "And you have done more that I would have risked. From what you have told me no man could have done more.  It is not in the hands of God." He stood.  "Carry Sir Tristan into the Church.  We will stand vigil all night and pray for him.  The Earl has done all that he can and it is now down to God."

I stood too.  "You men at arms who followed the wrong leader.  Go with Father Henry and Lady Anne.  Let your prayers, this night, cry out to God. Your fate and that of Sir Tristan are entwined like the strands of a rope."

Robert of Settle nodded, "Aye lord. We shall.  I believe that our prayers will save the young lord. And I for one wish to serve you."

John my steward looked anxious as he approached me. "Lord, there look to be empty saddles."

"There are John.  We left many brave men north of here but our land is safe for the winter. Let the people know that their continued freedom was bought with the blood of our warriors."

"Will Sir Tristan live, lord?"

"We have done all that men can do.  He lives and he breathes.  The rest is up to God." I was weary but I had one more thing to do.  "Aiden, ride to Yarm and tell Sir Richard what has befallen his son."

He nodded and ran off.  Wulfric was close by.  "When he decided to side with Stephen of Blois Richard of Yarm gave up any rights, lord."

I nodded, "He is a father as am I. It will not hurt."

Wulfric nodded, "The boy fought well, lord.  He and Sir Edward's men held up ten times their number.  I know others who would have fled the field."

There was no greater praise. Wulfric approved.

John said, "Lord there are letters arrived from the Archbishop and the Bishop and..." he paused, "One with a royal seal.  The King has written to you."

"Thank you.  Have our ships returned yet from Anjou?"

"No lord."

"And our people prosper?"

He nodded.  "We have had more families joining us." He saw my look, "They are families, lord and not spies.  We sent all single men away as you ordered."

"Good, it may seem harsh, John but it is necessary."

I walked out of my gate and went to the church,  I normally did this and spoke with my wife.  Now I had even more reason to do so. The church was filled with the mumble of prayers.  I knelt, not close to Tristan but by my wife's grave.  I silently implored her help in saving Tristan's life. The church felt suddenly warm. After a moment or two I stood and listened to the prayers.  The men we had captured were prying as hard as Lady Anne herself.  I walked to my young knight and touched the side of  his head where I had put the coin. "We need you Sir Tristan, we need you, come back to us."

I turned to go.  I saw the gratitude in Lady Anne's eyes and suddenly I heard a gasp from Father Henry.  I turned back and saw that Sir Tristan had opened his eyes.